HomeTVSherlockHypable Reader Opinion: My experience with ‘Sherlock’ and why Benedict Cumberbatch is the best Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is an iconic character in literature. It’s hard (or impossible) to disagree with that point. I started reading his stories and novels in high school and haven’t stopped.

Many are short stories that anyone can breeze through in 15 minutes, some even less, and that makes them perfect for short lunch breaks, waiting rooms, etc. To see how Sherlock gets from point A to point B can be an incredible thing to watch in the mind’s eye.

What makes them even more intriguing, and something that I didn’t know until I started to read them, is the large majority of cases are told from Dr. Watson’s POV. This allows us, as the audience, to sit back and observe, just as Watson does, a genius at work. Not only that but, just as in the show, we get to see Watson marvel at Sherlock’s ability to solve even the most puzzling of cases.

Benedict Cumberbatch is, in my humble opinion, the greatest of Holmes. He has created a man that is not only brilliant, but extremely rude. Now this is not meant to be an insult, rather, an observation of Holmes’ grand self importance as well as his social ineptness due to his brilliance. As with others whom are brilliant, social skills never truly develop because their mind is much busier solving other problems and the way Benedict has portrayed that shows just how talented he truly is.

Though Holmes is in fact an addict, he uses narcotics in the original stories, that hasn’t really been touched on in this series (albeit briefly in the pilot episode), rather his addiction is referenced when he goes through, what I like to call, “Case Withdrawls.” His constant need to have his mind stimulated and Benedict’s portrayal of a man who has gone too long without his fix is a fantastic reference to Doyle’s original drug addled character.

I haven’t watched 2×03 yet but I can still have a little fun and toss around what I think they should do in the future. We have only begun to scratch the surface on Sherlock Holmes’ cases but I think one story, or set of stories, which might be fun for fans to watch, is from “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.” As I mentioned in the beginning of this piece, every story is told from Dr. Watson’s point of view. What’s different about “The Case-Book” is that it contains three stories that are NOT told by Watson, rather we have two stories told from Holmes and a story told in the third-person (hmmm, sounds like a perfect fit for a series doesn’t it?).

One case told by Holmes occurs after his “retirement,” another while Watson “deserted me (Holmes) for a wife,” which is also a reference to a possible second wife for Watson and the third occurs in one room, has a threat on Holmes life and lots of disguises. These stories can easily be reworked by the writers to contain much more action and mystery, as we have seen in many other episodes, most notably “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” In that story, Holmes does not travel with Watson to Baskerville Hall (certainly worth a read). Unlike other episodes, these would give us a deeper understanding of the man that is Sherlock Holmes.

We have witnessed him falling in love, we have witnessed him experience doubt, we have witnessed him as he understood friendship (though only to a certain degree) but we have not witnessed what it is like to BE Sherlock Holmes. Based on the previous episodes, I think the writers of Sherlock could achieve this and raise the bar on Sherlock Holmes shows, movies and plays that much more.

As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I urge all of you who watch Sherlock to pick up a set of Doyle’s short stories. Though written about 100 years ago, the language is easy to pick up and you don’t have to struggle through Old English dictionaries. Not only that, but you will begin to understand many of the stories and be even MORE surprised at the endings because the writers have taken a few liberties that I thoroughly enjoy (e.g. the end of “Hound of Baskervilles”). “Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.”

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A few reasons actually. 1) I don’t illegally download shows since it’s ruined my PC before. 2) Donn’t have BBC and it’s not available on BBC America. 3) Never had Netflix until recently 4) I have now seen Reichenbach Fall and it was fantastic. I loved the little clue with ‘Stayin Alive’ at the end. It was the same ringtone that Moriarty had at the pool when Sherlock was supposed to die.

http://twitter.com/themeels Amelia Brown

Phew. I was really worried, especially because Sherlock played on Masterpiece Theater and was on the PBS website for like 3 months afterwards. Plus the DVDs have been out for months.

Glad you’re caught up!

ravenclaw1991

This was a fantastic article! I personally haven’t seen many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. Just animated stuff or other things that are just influenced by the stories. Part of me vaguely remembers seeing him in Scooby Doo, but that’s back when I used to think Holmes was a real person and not a character. Cumberbatch is the best from what I’ve seen though. He’s just pure amazing. I haven’t read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ stories, but I’ll get around to it one day. You should totally see The Reichenbach Fall. Its an amazing episode. :)

http://twitter.com/StarkidSims Simone

bless this post

morgen71

You MUST as a Sherlock fan see Reichenbatch. And then you will probably hate us all for telling you to.

SHER-LOCKED

“Eliminate all other factors, and the one thatremains must be the truth.”
LOVE IT!

http://twitter.com/dreamfall31 Kevin Slechta

Finishing up all the Doctor Who on Netflix, then immediately watching this series next!

http://xyue-mayx.deviantart.com/ Dreamer

Sherlock is so good. Other shows cannot even compare.

Daughter of Eve

I’ve recently been reading Sherlock Holmes books too. The books are fantastic! They really are incredible and I love how the created of Sherlock have made him and Watson so relevant in our time.

I LOVED the episode ‘the Scandal in Belgravia”. It is my favourite because I think Irene Adler is such a fantastic character. The dance between Holmes and Adler of who’s got the upper hand was brilliant. This episode more than anything has me “Sherlocked”

Cleusk

In my opinion, Jeremy Brett is the best. He played the role for the PBS series “Mystery”, which adapted every single story written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

zecat

Who could not agree with this! The tv show is just the best, hands down. Case closed

http://twitter.com/SofMarie93 Sofia Thomas

I just finished all six episodes and I love this article! I’ll just be waiting impatiently for season three!

romina

Read your article only just now and really liked it. I agree with you in all you’ve said but one: about raising the bar on SH by letting us witness what it’s like to BE him. I think that it is one of Mr. Cumberbatch’s great skills to be able to grasp the true, innermost nature of a character and convey it to the viewer (or listener) in its entire complexity. It’s an ability even more palpable in, say, Hawking or van Gogh, but it also goes for Sherlock. In my mind, it’s a perfect balance of detachment and brief glimpses of what it must be like, to be him (thanks to brilliant acting right there). But just as a rather unintelligent person can never really understand what it’s like to be clever, us “mere mortals” should never be allowed to fully understand what it’s like to be Sherlock. Any more than what we get to see and it’d spoil the fascination that is SH.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write this article and i’ll take your advice to heart and pick up the original books again, it’s been a while.

DoyleHolmesFan

You make a really great point. Us “mere mortals” shouldn’t be allowed to really see and understand what it’s like to be Sherlock. However, I say we should at least get a glimpse because Cumberbatch’s Sherlock is SO much different than the Sherlock I picture when reading the original stories. Here is almost cruel at times, though we get glimpses of a softer side, whereas when I read the stories he seems like a congenial person who happens to be brilliant. I never pictured, when reading, Sherlock’s explanations of cases and how he resolved them that as doing so with a sneer or a look in his eye that conveyed stupidity.

http://twitter.com/christyvourcos Christina Vourcos

I’ve been thinking about reading the books, but more so after watching Sherlock. Your review really makes me want to read the stories even more. I’ve always liked mystery, but I never got into anything related to Sherlock Holmes before Sherlock. The show really made me fall in love with Sherlock (Molly has some competition. :D). Though I know Molly doesn’t show up in the original stories, I really am glad they added her to the show. To me, she is the character I relate the most to. I hope she gets a chance to have more of a role in the future. What do you think of Molly? Anyways, I’m going to start reading Doyle’s stories, and then rewatch the show again. Thank you, DoyleHolmesFan.

DoyleHolmesFan

Prior to Reichenbach Fall, I never really thought all that much about Molly. She seemed to just be there, that’s not to say she never played an important role but she never really stood out to me. Although, I must admit that everybody (man or woman) has been in her place before, surrounded by people but lonely.

During Reichenbach Fall, though, she really surprised me with her ability to “see” Sherlock as well as her kindness and selflessness. She is willing to drop what she is doing to help a man that treats her poorly even though he considers her a friend. One of these days I will have to go back and see if Sherlock does in fact look sad when he knows John can’t see him (other than that scene or any scene after that line).

It will also be interesting to see what role she plays in faking his death.

You’re right, Molly doesn’t exist in the original stories and we rarely get to see Holmes interact with anyone other than Watson since 95% of the stories are told from Watson’s POV.

Sherlock Holmes

OMG!!! This is all so true!!! If you are at all interested in Sherlock Fan Fiction, I have a blog that contains several riddles, stories, and extra bits. Check me out at http://elementary54.wordpress.com/. And is there any possibility of a Hypable Sherlock podcast??? I would love that!!!

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